


Spirits Play

by Aaronna



Series: Soldier of Healing [10]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode s01e20 The Siege of the North Part 2 Rewrite, F/M, Friends reunited, Gen, Gran Gran is unimpressed, Herbalist Zuko (Avatar), Inspired by MuffinLance's Tumblr, Iroh Needs a Hug, M/M, Multi, No beta: we die like men, Sokka wasn't ready for this, Spirit needs a hug, Unintentional torture, Zhao gets tortured by attempted healing, all typos and grammar mistakes are my own, canonical sexism, healer!Zuko, missing tags, tagging on my phone sucks, will add more tags later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:01:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28317165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aaronna/pseuds/Aaronna
Summary: Herbalist!Zuko AU - The Siege of the North Part 2 Rewrite.Each had their child, some even shared. There is a reason they had their own world. Because when spirits play, humans call it war.
Relationships: Appa & Sokka (Avatar), Iroh & Miyuki (Avatar), Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), Kanna & Pakku (Avatar), Kanna & Yugoda (Avatar), Katara & Pakku (Avatar), Miyuki & Zhao (Avatar), Pakku & Kanna (Avatar), Sokka/Yue (Avatar), Spirit & Miyuki (Avatar), Spirit/Sokka (Avatar), Spirit/Yue/Sokka (Avatar)
Series: Soldier of Healing [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1910278
Comments: 42
Kudos: 265





	Spirits Play

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MuffinLance](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MuffinLance/gifts).



> So sorry for not getting this out earlier! Work picked up, then the computer system was hacked, my laptop died, I had to replace my phone with one that is hard to write on, Holidays hit me, my family took up all my free time, so I took time out of sleeping to write this bit by bit.
> 
> Anyways, enjoy! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

When he took up his name, he shouldered a title. He was Miyuki's apprentice, a child of Agni, and champion for the spirits in general. He hadn't known it at the time, but he did now. And as their champion, he would fight to protect them.

The Avatar was a spirit in the flesh. Aang was the bridge between worlds. He was the peacekeeper and Spirit was his guard. He had a duty to help the airbender. 

To do that, all he had to do was track down his uncle. Finding a firebender carrying a kid with blue tattoos wearing yellow and orange clothes in a city of the Northern Watertribe, how hard could it be? Uncle was only the Dragon of the West and a master of fire…

'(•V•)'

Sokka understood why he had to be the one to take the girls to the healing hut, but it didn't mean he liked it. The sooner they were in Healer Yugoda's care, the sooner he could grab Appa and help Spirit track down the firebender that took Aang. It would help if the two could walk on their own.

Katara was too dizzy to use her bending for defense or healing, so he had both of them leaning heavily on him from either side. Yue had blood streaked through her hair and could hardly keep her eyes open. He needed to get them there and out of sight before someone confronted him and wasted his time.

The spirits must have been smiling down on him because they didn't encounter anyone. The woman didn't need much of an explanation, telling him she would get the story from the girl once they were healed. He did ask her to keep them in the healing rooms with her until he or Spirit came to get them. At her nod, he raced off.

Appa was still saddled from the day before, which was odd for Aang to do. It was usually the first thing he did after a flight. He must have been more tired than he had looked if he forgot to take care of the sky bison, but it was a good thing for Sokka, who wouldn't have been able to saddle him on his own.

As they took to the sky, part of the Fire Nation arrived at the great wall to the city and began lobbing huge balls of flaming rock over it. Avoiding them wasn't too hard, but it did make searching for his friends difficult. Not seeing them in the city, he urged Appa further out into the frozen wasteland where a storm was picking up.

He saw the firebender guy who hurt his friends before he saw Spirit. His firebender buddy made a pretty convincing waterbender as he melted and refroze water with his cool temperaturebending. He looked great in grey, painted as a wolf, and he seemed to be scaring the old man standing over Aang's body on the water's edge. 

The guy wasn't as old as Master Poopoo, but he was definitely older than Chief Arnook, but he looked older and younger than both at the same time as he threw fireballs at Spirit. The man was shaking, from cold, fear, exhaustion? Who knew. Worse, he was crying.

Katara had said something about that before. He cried when they captured him. Was the guy that scared of failure?

Sokka waited until he knew Spirit had seen him before he threw Boomerang. It worked perfectly. It hit him in the head and he went down. Thanks to his friend, the guy didn't fall on Aang, but instead hit the ice.

Spirit crouched down by the pair as Sokka brought Appa down for a landing. When got over to his firebending buddy, there was rope around the old dude's wrists and Aang was wrapped up in the healer's arms, likely to warm him up. The Southern warrior took that as a hint he was supposed to get the guy ready for the trip back to the city.

It was kind of weird how Spirit looked torn between helping the kidnapper verse the kidnapper. Sokka, knowing his friend was a big softy at times, made this fake fiancé help both. It wasn't like the kid from the South Pole could fly Appa and guard the prisoner. If anyone asked, that was his reasoning and not that he didn't want the younger firebender to have to pick one or the other. Nope. Not at all.

Taking their prisoner to the healing hut was not part of the plan, but Aang had a nasty purplish black bruise on the side of his head and had been out in the cold for La knew how long with airbending to keep him warm, so they needed to get him to a healer quick. But that also meant taking Mr. Kidnapper too, who also had a similar bruise from Boomerang. Oh well, they couldn't have the invader dying before they questioned him, so Sokka would let the nice woman help the guy.

When they entered, Aang in Sokka's arms and the kidnapper guy over Spirit's shoulder, they were greeted by an upset cat and three worried waterbenders. As soon as the boys' deposited their charges, they were both pulled into a hug by Katara. If they both melted into the embrace, neither would bring it up, it was just nice that she was fine, Aang was safe, and no one died.

At some point during the hug, the older healer got to work on their bald friend, who looked to have only the earliest signs of frostnipping and not frostbite. Sure, Aang had gotten colder than was healthy, but Spirit had warmed him up a bit before handing him over to be carried, so that wasn't a problem. That just left where he had been hit in the head like the girls had.

He no sooner thought about Yue than she pulled him aside to tell him about how she had used waterbending and how she was fairly sure he could too. Sokka wasn't really all that excited to be able to use water magic, but the hope in the princess's eyes had him caving in a moment flat. Looks like he was going to let himself be adopted by the ocean spirit because he had a crush, great.

When he eventually looked away from Yue's beautiful face, he realized Spirit was gone and Katara was healing the kidnapper guy. He wasn't sure where their friend had run off to or why his sister looked like she was treating Baton and not some firebender that had hit her over the head just a few hours ago. All the Southern warrior knew was that the sounds of fighting had gotten worse and the enemy in the room with them was likely to be a problem soon.

As her assigned protector, Sokka couldn't allow the princess to stay so close to someone who had already hurt her once, so he told Katara she was in charge of the prisoner and escorted Yue back to the Spirit Oasis. There, they practiced bending water together away from the battle. Despite her claims and his sister's story, the warrior was still amazed when the princess surrounded him protectively with a wall of icy daggers.

That amazement turned to shock when the water thawed and moved at his command when he thought about how much he cared about the white haired young lady in front of him. He didn't know what he had done or how, but he did know it was freaky water magic that he used to dream of having when Katara first started controlling ice and snow as a 4-year-old. Right now, his brain was telling him the same thing it had ten years before, despite the proof in front of him. He was meant to be Katara's protector, not a fellow bender.

They were just figuring out that the water moved to Yue's protective thoughts and were trying to understand how Sokka had moved it when the sacred area was once again invaded by firebenders. Yue began to glow as Zhao ranted like a madman about destiny. He had a moment of awe before a calm overtook him.

After that, everything was a blur. When he finally came back to himself, he was protectively curled up against Spirit along with Yue and he ached all over. He wasn't sure what had happened, but for now he was going to let this friend's warmth sooth his sore muscles.

When he woke up from his nap on the firebender, he was told he and Princess Yue had joined the spirits of the sea and moon to push away the entire fleet of ships and moved the entire Northern Watertribe to the South. If he hadn't been told this by he Gran Gran, he never would have believed Arnook. It also seemed that the spirit couple had stripped the Northern chief of his title.

Sokka wasn't positive, but the way everyone was acting around him made him think he hadn't been told everything that had happened. They looked at him, but never met his eyes and bowed when they approached or left. And it wasn't just him either. He saw Spirit and Yue treated the same way. Gran Gran and Katara wouldn't tell him, the other two didn't seem to know either, and Aang hadn't even noticed. 

None of it really mattered though. They were going to head to the Earth Kingdom now that Katara had shown herself to be a master bender at some point during it all. Yue and Gran Gran would be running the tribes until they figured this all out. So now he just needed to avoid awkward questions about his relationships with Yue and Spirit until they left.

'(•V•)'

Katara wasn't sure what she had done to deserve her life, but she definitely felt she was paying for something. If being knocked unconscious and having her friend kidnapped because she couldn't protect them wasn't enough, she had been blessed out by Yugoda, hissed at by a cat that showed up, forced to try to heal herself despite the world spinning around her until the healer finally took pity on her. Then, when Sokka and Spirit came back with an injured Aang and Spirit's kidnapper uncle, she ended up healing the older firebender because his nephew looked like a kicked Isopup. The man ended up vomiting bile and tea all over her before the actual healer forced him to sleep with her bending. After that, she then got chased out of the healing hunt by the cat, who had seemed to love Spirit.

Outside, she had to fight off firebenders that had made it into the city. After hours of almost non-stop bending, Master Pakku and his students finally showed up and helped her finish them off. Things got easier after the sun had set, but she was still exhausted and still hurting from her fight with Spirit's uncle as she fought side by side with her Gran Gran's former fiancé.

The moon had been high in the sky when it vanished and two glowing figures rose from the far side of the city. One looked like a salamander crab and shown with blue light. The other was the color of the sky at dusk and looked like a sea goat. Inside each was the human shaped shadow. She was pulled down and forced to bow as the figures passed. 

When she was allowed to look up, all the Fire Nation people were gone and the world began to move. Walls of ice rose up around them, then a ceiling of thick, transparent ice. Then they were pulled down under the sea itself. It was terrifying.

Master Pakku brought her along as he raced to the highest building. From there, they could see that the entire tribe was in this bubble of ice. After that, there were meetings after meetings and a lot of panic.

Princess Yue and Sokka were missing, Aang had only just woken up again, and the koi fish that were the moon and ocean in physical form were gone. Spirit also was nowhere to be found, but everyone has seen him at one point or another, saying he was not fully human and was bending three elements without being the Avatar. On top of that, there was an entire section of the bubble holding all of the firebenders who had been in the city.

That area was walled off from the rest, but the thick ice was crystal clear, so they could see everything happening in there. Admiral Zhao was over there, along with Spirit's uncle and It seemed the soldiers didn't like either of them. As the two leaders argued and raged, the common fighters were bowing with their foreheads on the ground and flames in their hands.

Katara watched them through the ice until she fell asleep against the wall. She woke slightly as she was lifted off the ground and moved. She could hear voices speaking, but the words were lost to her as she fell back asleep.

She woke fully as the city suddenly started rising. She was in her bed in the house they had been staying in and Spirit was wide-eyed in the doorway with his war paint half missing and hair loose. Together, they rushed outside to see sunlight growing brighter above them.

She nearly fell when the icy bubble reached the surface. She watched it awe as the ice ceiling retreated and the snowy walls lowered revealing a summer sky. Given it had been the beginning of Winter the day before, there were only two possibilities Katara could imagine. One, they had been asleep like Aang trapped in the iceberg or two, they were not in the north anymore.

She didn't have to wonder for long, because the two glowing creatures were back and Spirit was nowhere to be seen, again. As the two got closer, Katara saw who the dark figures from before were. They were Sokka and Yue, eyes glowing, hair too in the princess's case. Their mouths opened and unearthly voices came forth.

It shook Katara to her very spirit to hear those voices come from her brother and new friend. Sokka's was like the ocean, deep and cold while Yue's was soft but also seems to be everywhere like the light of a full moon. They spoke for each other and finished what the other started. The most chilling part was  what they were saying.

Arnook had angered Tui, so she was stripping him of his power as chief. La was angry his children were not considered equal, so he was withdrawing his blessings on the men from the North. The Moon and Ocean then named their hosts as the leaders of the unified tribe, making Sokka and Yue Chief and Chieftess. 

Then there was Spirit. She wasn't sure what had happened, but La and Tui called him nephew and all the firebenders, other than Zhao and General Iroh, were treating him as if he was Agni himself. Rumor had it that he was a body of a dead child housing spirits of different elements, but Katara knew better. He was a former Fire Nation prince who was spirit blessed, but she could see how they were confused.

Then, all the Fire troops were put in a smaller ice bubble that Tui pulled under water on her back as La led the way out to sea along with Aang. At sunset, the three returned and made their way back to the oasis, where Sokka and Yue were released and the spirits returned to their endless circling in their pool. Katara watched as the glow faded from the pair and they started to fall as Spirit wrapped his arms around their waists and lowered the three of them to the soft grass.

That was when Gran Gran pulled her aside and asked what happened. Katara told her grandmother everything, including who Spirit really was and how his uncle thought he was a ghost controlled by the Avatar. Other than a few raised eyebrows, the acting Chieftess gave no reactions to the tale.

When Sokka woke up, both tribes acted like he was a king of something and Yue was finally seen as more than just a proper princess. Spirit was so busy trying to deal with the cat and the two spirit fish that he didn't seem to care what everyone was saying about him, but he was just as confused about why everyone was acting different around his friends, but that put him a step above Aang, who hasn't noticed anything until the three of them asked him about what had happened. It was actually pretty funny to watch.

It wasn't going to be fun leaving Gran Gran again, but Katara knew the tribe would be fine as long as the Northerners continued to treat Yue well and Master Pakku kept doing everything he could to win back his former betrothed's affection, such as granting Katara the title of waterbending master. She had faith in them, just as she had faith that Aang would bring an end to the war. Together, they would make that dream a reality.

'(•V•)'

No matter how much her head ached and her limbs felt like they were too heavy, Yue was glad she could be close to Sokka. His presence was soothing, like waves breaking against the shore. With him, she felt more whole than she ever had before.

She nearly cried when he left her in the healing hut and left. She understood why he had to go, but it didn't stop the emptiness from eating away at her insides. Even after Yugoda healed her, that lonely ache remained.

She actually felt him returning before he arrived back with Avatar Aang and Firebender she was fairly sure was General Iroh. As soon as Katara let go of him, she wasted no time in claiming his attention. Any shame she felt for being so possessive was washed away by the caring looks he gave her.

Practicing bending had originally been an excuse to be alone with him that doubled as a good reason to keep an eye on the mortal forms of the watertribes' patron spirits. She hadn't expected to find the secret to her bending so quickly or for Sokka to bend as well, but it happened. And she wouldn't change a thing.

She didn't recall much about what happened after those firebenders entered the sacred oasis and threatened the spirits, but she remembered the urge to protect well up in her and a wave of love crashed over her just before the water around them began to shine with unnatural light. After that, she vaguely recalled Spirit asking them to spare the fire children, but she was fairly sure he hadn't been talking to her and Sokka. There was a voice of an old, put upon woman tutting about kittens and litter sharing, but Yue couldn't place who it belonged to.

Other than that, she didn't have any memories of the day and a half it took them to move from one pole to the other. Knowing her boys were both there with her and they were safe was all she needed to let her exhausted body rest. The real trial would begin when she woke up.

Getting to see Sokka and Katara's home was like a slap to the face. She felt an anger like no other seeing how her ancestors had abandoned their sister tribe to be slowly smothered. It was unforgivable.

The spirits must have agreed, because it seemed Tui, her mother in all but birth, had stripped her father of his title and power. La, the patron spirit of hunters was said to have forsaken the Northern men and instead blessed the women of the South Pole. Yue felt a feral, unladylike grin building in her soul at the thought that men, who had always looked at women as weak, being dependent on mothers from their forsaken sister tribe for meat.

It was poetic.

She felt that her hidden glee must have been showing itself in some way because everyone was treating her differently. The Southerners beamed with pride, but wouldn't meet her eyes and the Northerners looked at her with a mix of fear and awe that she wasn't sure how she earned. That was until Acting Chieftess Kanna called her Chieftess Yue.

She wasn't sure she was ready for the responsibility, but she had people around her to help her lead her people into a better future. Yugoda would help her from overreaching her abilities and she was fairly sure that if Kanna was anything like her granddaughter, that the woman would push her to do everything she could. Hopefully, between the two of them, they could distract her from missing Sokka with her entire soul while he was helping the Avatar.

Hopefully.

The princess turned Chieftess thought Spirit looked very pleased with the changes at least. He was having a little bit more fun with everyone's discomfort around him as he openly berated three different spirits. Yue wasn't sure if he actually understood them, but he definitely had both tribes believing it.

She was really going to miss her boys.

'(•V•)'

Yugoda had not expected to start the day by dealing with her princess, her student, and the "betrothed" of her other student standing at her door, the girls bleeding. It was clear young Sokka was anxious to leave and help his friend find the stolen Avatar, so she sent him on his way and would ask her patients for the details later. It was clear that Katara was the less injured of the two, so she had the child try to heal herself while the old woman stopped the bleeding in Yue's snowy hair.

Both girls looked like they were about to cry, but the healer was more amused than concerned. The princess had gotten teary eyed when the boy turned away from her, which was funny since that was all that was needed to complete the odd triangular relationship she, Sokka, and Spirit had. Then Katara seemed frustrated to tears as she could seem to focus in her injured state enough to bend the water.

The woman noticed as she eased the swelling of the princess's scalp that the young man had let a small animal into the healing hut as he had left as it hissed at the girl failing to heal herself. Yugoda wasn't sure why, but she felt an instant kinship with the indignant puff of creamy fur. That feeling only increased when the boys returned with their two charges and the cat seemed exasperated at Spirit, who blushed at the look the feline sent him.

The woman turned a blind eye to the moment the children of the cheifs' had, especially when Yue drug Sokka outside, and focused on the patients at hand. The Avatar had minor head injury and mild skin irritation from the cold wind, which was somewhat surprising given how thin his clothing was. Then there was the firebender who had hurt the three and had just vomited tea and bile all over her student.

The man was roughly her eldest son's age, but he seemed nearly her age. When she ushered Katara away, she could feel the pain around him and tangles in his chi. This was something she had only ever felt from the lone survivors of accidents.

Survivor's guilt.

He reeked of it and she was fairly sure Spirit knew what the man was blaming himself for. The soft, yet guarded way he watched the man was more than enough for her to place him as someone the herbalist cared about, but she got the feeling he couldn't express his feeling. Given the fire soldier was currently an enemy and their prisoner, it was understandable.

She was itching to ask her male pupil, when he came back inside after a brief time outside, about their new patient, but she wasn't willing to do so in front of Katara. Before she could think of a reason to send her off somewhere, the cat chased the girl out and returned with a pleased swagger. Now the boy had no reason to keep things from her.

Of course, that was when Avatar woke up and attached himself to Spirit talking too fast for her to understand most of what was said, but thankfully, she did understand the responses given in return. Thinks like, yes Katara and princess Yue were fine, only one firebender got in last night, the man was General Iroh, the Fire Lord's older brother, and he believed Avatar Aang had his nephew's spirit enslaved. Yugoda wasn't sure how to react to the identity of her patient.

Had her student's look been pity for a great man who lost so much? It had seemed deeper and more personal, but how would a Fire Nation boy raised by an herbalist in the Earth Kingdom know the usurped prince? It wasn't as though they had met before.

Oh. That would explain it. They  had met. They were acquaintances.

Yugoda was unsurprised when the boys dashed outside to join the fighting, but feeling the purring cat soothing her patient's chi was surprising. Was this cat a spirit? This was unexpected.

How did that boy know a healing spirit? Just how many of the spirits were giving him their blessing? Tui, Agni, possibly La, and now a healing spirit? This was unheard of. Not even the Avatar seemed to be this loved by them.

Not sure how she would explain the spirit cat and firebender to anyone coming in for treatment, she raised ice walls to make a small room to hide them from view and went about her work. With the battle raging outside, she ended up with her hands full and time moved quickly. Then the glowing wave washed through her hut like the walls didn't exist. When she checked, the firebender was gone.

When she stepped outside, she saw no firebenders and the city was nearly encased in an icy box. She openly gaped at the sight and when everything suddenly shifted, she lost her footing and crashed to the ground. She didn't bother to try to get up and sat there in shock.

The city was moving. Her home was attacked and now it was trapped in ice as it was moving somewhere unknown. She felt like a piece of an iceflow trapped in a current. 

She likely would have stayed there, but a cry of pain from her hut pulled her out of her shock. Some quick bending fixed her sore tongue and bruised hip and knees before she threw herself into helping her patients. At least if she was busy, she wouldn't have time to fear the unknown.

Pakku came in to speak with her at one point, but he seemed to take one look at her and told her to get some sleep as he muttered something under his breath about healers. She was reluctant, but her body overruled her. She slept like the dead until she was gently shaken awake by someone she never expected to see again.

Kanna was at her bedside. Old and wrinkled as she was, Yugoda would recognize her best friend anywhere. She ignored stiffness and hugged her sister in all but blood tightly.

They both cried a little, shared a relieved laugh before they faced their new reality. It was a lot to take in. The people of the North were now in the South, Arnook was stripped of his chiefhood but a spirit housed in his own daughter that he had tried to marry off against her will, Sokka and Yue were now the leaders of the tribes, all the firebenders were taken away by the Ocean and Moon spirits, and Pakku was driving the two of the mad with his attempts to win back Kanna's heart. 

His methods would have been sweet except they weren't children anymore. Katara earned her title of waterbending master, but he cheapened it by making it seem as though he did so to appease Kanna. His sudden willingness to teach other girls waterbending was too little too late, but at least something good was coming from this nonsense.

When she wasn't with her long lost friend, Yugoda was healing sick children, helping women with past injuries that hadn't healed properly without bending healers, and working on teaching Spirit as much as she could before the Avatar's group left to find him an earthbending master.

She hadn't expected to learn her student's full backstory, but she had. She pulled him into a tight hug each time his voice wavered. When his tale was done, Yugoda tried to see if she could help his eyesight, hearing, and voice from those 3 years past, but she knew it wasn't enough to make up for what he had been through. 

Despite that, the smile she received in thanks flooded her with happy warmth. She was now sure things would change. The Avatar may be destined to save the world, but it would be the boy who called himself Spirit who would heal it.

'(•V•)'

Aang didn't tell the others, but he had woken up briefly as he was being carried, right before the person carrying him was startled and dropped him. In that short time, he was able to warm himself up with airbending, but the main thing he noticed was the man saying traditional Fire Nation prayers of forgiveness. In his time before freezing in the ice, he had only heard that prayer twice and both were because someone had died.

Being knocked back out in the fall may have been a good thing because when he woke up the second time, Spirit was there and he said Katara and princess Yue were still alive. Better yet, they were healed and helping out.

It seemed a little weird that General Iroh was more hurt than the three of them were. The man looked so sad and worn out. It was hard to think of him as the terror of the Earth Kingdom that Aang had heard stories about when he looked so small in that bed.

When he told Spirit that General Iroh thought he had Prince Zuko's ghost, a sad look filled his friend's eyes, so Aang changed the subject. Mentioning the fighting washed that look off the younger firebender's face and they took off outside. By the time they reached the front wall, the sadness was just a memory.

They made a great team fighting the Fire troops. Spirit would put out their fires and Aang would blow them back to the water's edge. No one died and very little damage was happening from the main force. Hopefully with them keeping the large area clear, the Northern Watertribe benders could defend the small spots.

It was really cool to watch Spirit use firebending to fake waterbending and airbending. Aang was still surprised by how different his friend was from any other firebenders he had met, past or present. It was almost like he was a dragon, bending heat rather than fire itself. 

Together they fought all day, stopping wave of attacks after wave of attacks. My sunset, threats from the commanders at the back was all that was driving the men forward. It was sad to see these people forced to fight when it was clear they're heart wasn't in it. 

Spirit didn't like it either and was wading through the foot soldiers, not even hurting them, to reach the commanders. He had just gotten to the first one when the moon vanished and the waves stopped crashing against the shore. Then came the blue and violet lights.

They were beautiful and scary like an angry Katara. The one glowing blue seemed to be following the purple one with shimmers of orange and coral, almost like a shy salamander crab that really wanted the food being offered. The other looked like an angry rambull who caught another rambull in their territory. Both had someone inside of them.

Before Aang could try to guess who the hosts for these spirits were, Spirit stepped between the towering figures of glowing water and the troops of the Fire Nation. Never had the young Avatar expected his friend to beg the moon spirit for leniency towards the invaders. He then compared the soldiers to the women of the Northern Watertribe, trapped in a situation by their leaders and traditions. The last straw was the outcast firebender calling the cowering men and women Tui's nieces and nephews.

The rage in the watergoat shaped spirit seemed to fade away and was replaced with something Aang had assumed was curiosity, but he was pretty sure he was wrong because a cat ran out and did the same thing Spirit had done, it got between the spirits and Spirit. He hadn't expected the cat to grow big and glow green. Then again, he hadn't expected anything correctly really since waking up from the ice.

No words were said, but the spirit of the world inside the airbender flinched as the healing spirit laid into the moon and ocean. Aang didn't understand what was really happening, but he knew a fight between mothers when he saw one. If he had to guess, the nomad would say the cat was winning the argument.

The can shrunk back to normal and climbed into Spirit's waiting arms before nodding to the other spirit. A wave of indigo lit water crashed through the city and then washed all the firebenders, including Spirit, to the empty part of the city. After that, walls and a ceiling of ice grew and the city began moving, fast.

A quick peek let Aang see that his friend was fine and treating the injured in the area the wave had left them. A quick wave to Spirit through the clear ice wall and try he airbender was off. He found Appa and fell asleep hugging his oldest friend.

He was woken up not long after passing out, then he got dragged into several meetings and being half asleep, he really didn't understand what everyone was so worried about. Of course the fish were missing, they were the ones moving the whole city from the North Pole. The stories about Spirit were funny too. Sokka and Yue were probably safe, so Aang went to go talk to the cat.

Spirit said her name was Miyuki and she had been his teacher as long as he had known her. She huffed at him when he tried to talk to her and then avoided him. When the Avatar persisted, he was sent out by his friend who said she seemed ready to scratch him.

After that, he wandered aimlessly until he got tired again and took another nap with Appa and Momo. He wasn't up long before the spirits brought them back to the surface and removed the roof and walls that had formed before they all moved. That was when he got to really see the figures hosting the spirits.

It made sense Yue was the one hosting the Moon, since the princess had been saved as a baby by Tui, but Sokka and the ocean? That one wasn't as easy to explain. Spirit tried to explain it, but Aang couldn't wrap his head around it.

Instead of worrying about it, he went with the spirits to leave the Fire Nation people on the shore by one of the colonies. Aang never saw the Admiral or General, but he assumed they were in the huge crowd somewhere. He got to hear La warn them to never speak of what had happened in the North or the ocean itself would abandon the Fire Nation as a whole.

Personally, the Avatar thought that was a bit harsh, but he could understand why the spirits wouldn't want the Fire Lord to know that the Southern Watertribe now housed the people of the Northern tribe and that they had the power of the moon and sea on their side. Still, threats were bad.

When he got back, the spirits let go of Sokka and princess Yue and went back to being fish. After hours of the two koi refusing to acknowledge him, the airbender decided to take his classmates from waterbending lessons penguin sledding. It turned out they didn't have those in the north, just polar bear dogs, polar bear geese, and seal turtles. They didn't even know about tiger sharks!

He tried to get Sokka to teach them all about the southern animals, but he always seemed to be busy. According to him and Yue, everyone was treating them and Spirit differently now, which now that they mentioned it, they were. Wanting to help, he tried asking his penguin sledding buddies, but they became as tight lipped as oysterclams, so he had to admit defeat to his friends when they asked.

A few days later, they left for the Earth Kingdom to see if Bumi would teach him earthbending. Aang was happy to be moving again, but he could tell the others were a little sad. Sokka would miss his people and Yue, same with Katara, but Spirit seemed the saddest as he hugged the Princess and healer. 

Hopefully, they would perk up when they reached Kyoshi Island.

'(•V•)'

Iroh hated himself. He had fought children, competent ones, but children nevertheless. Not only that, he had kidnapped one too. The fact that the spirit inside the boy had once lived in the great grandfather of his niece and nephew didn't help at all.

But he was doing this to put Zuko to rest after 3 years of his soul being unable to move on to the spirit world or reborn into another life. He was doing this for Azula, so she never felt jaded and abandoned again. He was doing this for the nation he loved and the world as a whole, saving them from an heir of Ozai's that had never known Ursa's love and compassion. That was what he kept telling himself as he snuck through the city with the child Avatar draped over his shoulder.

When the young waterbender warrior caught him, the Dragon of the West couldn't stop the tears that started flowing. He hadn't gotten back in time to save the troops on the ships, he hadn't regained his lost reputation, he hadn't even succeeded in kidnapping an unconscious 12-year-old. He was going to have to kill the child that found him, it was his only option.

He offered up a quick prayer before he dropped and young Avatar and fell into a fighting stance. He threw everything but lightening at the painted faced boy, but none of it mattered. Nothing came close to stopping the Northern bender. The great General Iroh, the Breaker of the Wall of Ba Sing Se, the Dragon of the West, and Grandson of Sozin, was slowly losing to a teenager who hadn't sent a single attack.

The fighter seemed to have a different waterbending style than any other he had ever seen. If it wasn't for the traditional war paint, Iroh would have thought he was fighting an earthbender, not a waterbender. He couldn't help but think about how this boy was roughly the age Zuko would be if he had survived. He must have been distracted, because that was when something crashed into the side of his head and he went down.

His head ached horribly when he drifted back to consciousness as something cool was against his temples. Everything that had happened came racing back to him as the chill dug in to joints. His stomach expelled what little it contained and the feelings of guilt and failure flooded him as he was pulled back out of the waking world. 

When next he woke, he was trapped in an ice enclosure with over a thousand other men and women dressed in red. He seemed to be in an area for the mildly injured, it looked like those with mild head injuries or bandaged limbs were assigned to that region. There was an area not too far away where those with broken bones were. He wasn't sure who organized this, but it seemed efficient.

Despite his dizziness and head pain, the General got up from his makeshift bed and went to check on his men. He had failed them twice now, the least he could do was see what conditions they were being kept in. This was what leaders were supposed to do.

It seemed most of the soldiers were kowtowing and praying to Agni, but those who weren't seemed to be those who had jobs to do. Some were tending to the injured, others were melting ice for drinking water, there were those standing guard near the transparent ice wall, even a few manning fires that seemed to be burning ice rather than wood. Then there was that waterbender sitting in front of a tiedup Admiral Zhao.

Despite being surrounded by firebenders, the teen seemed relaxed. That was when Iroh realized the child had golden eyes. A fireborn waterbender? In addition, some of the war paint had been removed to expose a horrific burn scar around their left eye.

That was when stories clicked together and his heart fell. This was Spirit. The combined spirits from different elements housed in the body that had once been his nephew. An angry welled up in the usually gentle souled man. This was the abomination the Avatar had created from his poor boy. 

No wonder the creature hadn't attacked him. It had likely been bound in a way that stopped it from possibly harming it's master. He could feel sparks on his skin as he contemplated striking in down where it sat.

As soon as those sad eyes locked with his, the urge to fight dissipated with the energy that had built up in him. Those were the eyes that had pleaded silently to be saved from Azula when he was only 12. He felt his body attempting to betray him, but he was saved by the most unlikely of people.

Zhao.

The man tried to lunge at what remained of his nephew and his boy barely moved so the mad man missed. The Admiral didn't take that well and started raving. Calling Zuko 'Miyuki', threatened to skin him while calling him a cat, and claiming nothing could stop his destiny to be the Moon Slayer.

What happened next left the elder prince blinking in confusion. His late nephew reached out and poked the yelling man's nose. Zhao must have been just as confused, because the man stopped mid yell to stare at the boy who was smirking and purring? Maybe the madman was onto something with his cat comment...

That was when the younger prince finally spoke. The voice that came out was nothing like Iroh remembered. It was rough, almost gravelly, but soft.

He spoke to call over one of the guards and ask the woman if she knew who he was. The scarred young lady seemed highly offended, but calmed when she was asked to explain who he was to her commanders. For a moment, she looked horrified, but then collected herself and nodded.

According to her, he was the Savior of the 41st division, a master swordsman and firebender, who saved several thousand at Shu Valley. She spoke of what she had seen him do, such as call for everyone to get up into the trees, force earthbenders to unbury those trapped underground with a sword to their throats, and carefully treat the injured with all he had, which was his firebending and the clothes of the dead. She referred to him as an herbalist, healer, and spirit touched. With a slight smile and a nod, she was dismissed, not by the General or the Admiral, but by the person she trusted to lead her, his dead and possessed nephew. 

Before anything could be said by himself or the now red-faced Zhao, a young man chimed in with how awful it had been to watch a healer get burned saving a life. Voices all over their prison began chiming in. It seemed most of the fleet knew this version of their youngest prince. Iroh made a point of meeting each person's eyes as they spoke, so he missed when "Spirit" left.

All the General knew was his reason for coming to the North was no longer in the icy enclosure. Too tired and achy to chase down the spirits housed in Zuko's body, he settled back down on his makeshift bed from earlier. Within moments, feline terror that was Miyuki was resting on top of him, grumbling and kneading at his sore muscles. 

When he tried to get her to get off or at least stop sending pains shooting through him, she vocally protested. He managed to sit up, only for Miyuki to sneeze on him and try climbing his chest. Pulling her claws out of his clothes and armor ended with her batting his nose.

Shocked at how similar the action was to what Zuko had done to Zhao, he froze. This allowed the boney ball of fluff to settle down on his chest and lean against his throat. With his body protesting the angle he was sitting in, he had no choice but to lay back down, allowing Miyuki to settle wherever she pleased, which was right between his legs.

Now Iroh knew he wasn't going to be fathering any more children, but that didn't mean he was willing to risk a certain cat's claw in a particularly vulnerable location. It was highly uncomfortable to have one's bladder kneaded, but it was better than risking everything to move her. Eventually, she settled down and began purring softly, which lulled the General to sleep.

When he woke again, his aches were milder than they had been in a long time, so he decided it was time to expose what the Avatar was doing. Not that anyone seemed to believe him. He understood why the Northern Watertribe didn't want to believe the truth, but not a single Fire Nation soldier took him seriously. Even Zhao, a man gone completely mad, thought he was being crazy.

He tried until the ground heaved and the ceiling over their prison withdrew. He, like all the others, waited with baited breath for something to happen, but nothing happened except them receiving sunlight for the first time in what felt like months. Most of the troops returned to their prayers to Agni, but Iroh stayed vigilant.

After a few degrees of the sun, two spirits and the Avatar appeared before them. The one spirit housed the girl who had stopped him before, who he had later hit over the head with no mercy. He sent a silent apology to Azula and the Fire Nation, as he had truly failed them.

To his surprise, instead of laying waste to the invaders of her people, the spirit called them all her nieces and nephews. He had attacked the host of Tui, the moon spirit, and she was letting him live because they were family. This was not something he had expected. Nor did he expect to be separated from the others when the lover spirits moved them.

He didn't know where the others ended up, but Tui moved him to the bay near Ba Sing Se. She told him to face his ghosts and stop treating the living as the dead before her dusky violet form disappeared out to sea. Unsure of what was going on, he stood there and watched her go.

It was after he threw his armor into the sea and let his topknot loose when what the moon had meant hit him. It floored him as massive waves of guilt crashed over him. Those stories about the Savior of the 41st Division that had spread to the Caldera, from Jeong Jeong, for the men and women themselves in that icy prison. They all pointed to this, but he was too deep in mourning to even contemplate that something like this was even vaguely possible, so he missed all the signs.

Zuko was alive. He had saved them and been burned, nearly killed from an uncontrolled fame to his face, from the infection that settled in after, left scarred for effort. His precious boy had lived, but he had been too ready to accept the fact. He had pleaded with the spirits themselves to allow Lu Ten to come back to him, but left Zuko alone without a single attempt to contact his spirit. He hadn't accepted the words of his commanders, men and women he trusted with his life and that of his only child, when they told him the Earthbenders had killed his little soldier boy until he saw the mangled corpse for himself, yet he had trusted a message, sent by a hawk from a commander his had never heard of, that said the youngest Fire Prince was dead. 

Vomiting was his body's solution to the churning of his soul. After he expelled everything he had managed to keep down during his stay in that prison, he finally cried over losing his nephew. Zuko had given up his name and Iroh had to accept the boy he had loved but barely knew was gone and grew into a fierce fighter, dedicated healer, and found love from those around him, something he lacked after Ursa's disappearance years ago. 

Zuko received it from all the people around him, not because of his title or status like his time in the palace, but because of his actions and care. Iroh knew he could have been that for the boy, but then what would have become of Azula? Did she not deserve the same? 

Yes. Yes she did. He would make sure she received the love and adoration she could ever want. Perhaps Mai would be able to help…

That decided, General Iroh, Dragon of the West, laid aside his names and titles just as Zuko had and took up the name of Mushi as he went to go see an old friend. 

'(•V•)'

Being the master waterbender that had taught all the younger masters, Pakku had prided himself in his fighting prowess. At this moment, that felt like a bad joke. His student, who was still in the basic waterbending forms, was able to fight off the invaders better than any of the Northerners even without using any airbending. Then there was the lone wolf.

The nonbenders had been thrashed handily by this figure before and everyone had assumed he was also a nonbender. That was a mistake on their part as he was clearly an unorthodox waterbender who treated water as though it was earth. Between the two, those boys were holding the largest beach entirely on their own. 

Pakku should have known his men couldn't contain the forces pushing through at the smaller bays, but it was too late now. There were firebenders in the city. It shouldn't be hard for a waterbender, surrounded by the the sea and ice to stop these invaders, yet here he and his men were, struggling to hold them back.

None of them expected to find the Avatar's betrothed not only holding off a dozen firebenders, but pushing them back as well. She was mixing forms and showing a mastery that someone untrained should not be able to manage. It was like watching a polar bear goose in battle, elegantly fatal. They said she was the last waterbender in the South, but they had assumed that was an exaggeration. Given the fierceness and termination she and her brother showed at such young ages, maybe they really were the last of a dying culture. A horrific fate that the North had allowed to happen by refusing aid. 

If Pakka and his men began mirroring her moves, they would never admit it. Together they fought and battled the day away and into the night, blessed by Tui's light. Then, the moon was gone. He had his men bowing before he truly realized what those duel glows represented.

The moon and ocean. The push and pull that gave them the gift of bending. The spirits walked among them. 

The master was fairly sure there was only one among them worthy of looking upon the pair, but he wasn't willing to risk it. He was not going to face Yugoda if her student was hurt by the spirits, her chief father if she died under his care, nor that of her intended or brother. Or worse yet, the warrior herbalist whom she called friend.

He wasn't positive why, but Pakku was uneasy around that girl. That scar was a clear burn in the vague shape of a hand, ear melted and eye misshapen. It should have made her look deformed, but it gave her a rare beauty that had half his men pining for her. She didn't seem to see the world as the others did and acted as though she wasn't one of them. In a way, she reminded him too much of Princess Yue.

Both had the air of a spirit around them. They both seemed to be reminders that there were powers beyond everyone else. As the princess was only the pull without a push, much like the moon, she would likely never bend without the ocean to push back against her. Spirit didn't have that restriction since she wasn't a bender.

She was almost as unnerving as the spirits of the moon and ocean walking among their people. He wasn't positive how long he was on his knees bowing and keeping the others down too, but he kept them there until he felt everything shift.

Having been a waterbender for eighty or so years, Pakku could feel the pull of the moon, the push of the sea, and the shifting of the water around him. It was why he had not lost a fight in five decades and right now, Tui was beneath the city, La above, and they were moving fast. Chief Arnook needed to know that the Northern Watertribe was leaving the north.

The meetings that followed were mostly the man asking about where the Avatar, Princess Yue, Young Sokka, and Miss Spirit were. Locating the airbender was the easy task, the healing soldier was spotted in several places by many people who all claimed the exact same time. As impossible as that was, it was easier to explain than the disappearance of the princess and her bodyguard.

Seeing as Yugoda always seemed to have motherly intuition as to where to find wayward youngsters, the bending master sought out the best friend of his former fiancé. As expected, she was in her hunt treating those injured in the fighting before the spirits swept away the Fire Nation troops to their prison on the far end of the city. Unexpectedly, she seemed worse off than many of her patients.

Her hair was free of her usually tidy braids, she had dark patches under her eyes, she was limping, and her hands were shaking. Pakku would be the first to admit he did not know much about women or healing, but even he knew she needed to rest. He no sooner got her to lay down than she was asleep.

Not sure what else to do, he pulled a blanket over her and told one of her assistants where she was before moving to check on the ice walls around the firebenders. He wasn't surprised that the Avatar's intended was there too, but of all the few people he knew from outside of his tribe, the Grand Lotus of the White Lotus was the last one he expected to be part of the invasion force. He needed to talk to the man, but how would he be able to without either of their people knowing?

He was still pondering that when he realized the waterbending prodigy beside him had fallen asleep at her post. At that moment, she looked like his Kanna when they were that young. She was exactly as he always imagined their daughter would have looked.

Later he would pass it off as a moment of sentimentality, but he gently scooped her up and took her back to her home here in the North. He was hard pressed to keep his embarrassment hidden as he was watched by the Lone Wolf. He wasn't sure how the waterbender knew the Avatar's group, but whoever he was, he had just seen the Master Waterbender at his most vulnerable.

He tucked Katara in and turned to face the mysterious waterbending warrior who seemed to be none other than Spirit. The wolf warpaint was missing from her scar, likely because it irritated the old injury, making her unmistakable. Never could he remember being this confused, not even when Kanna ran away south.

In a way, it made sense since she grew up in the Earth Kingdom. She treated water as earth. Something to be lobbed, hardened, stopped, crushed. She didn't act as though water was a constantly changing, flowing force. It was unsettling, but understandable. The real question was how a waterbender was born outside of the poles.

He opened his mouth to ask her about it when the girl in question blinked tiredly and stifled a yawn. He understood that all these women he knew were tired, but did they all have to be dead on their feet at the same time? It was more than a little unsettling.

Instead of risking a tired female's wrath, Pakku pointed to the other bed in the room and left when he got a nod of understanding. He moved back to the meeting chamber to speak with his chief, only to find the man in a heated conversation with the librarians and young Hahn's father. Not wanting to be pulled into that argument, he decided to inspect the outer wall holding back the ocean and sealing in the air.

Never before had he felt water that activity ignored him. This was the ocean and moon taking action in the human world, so he understood, but it was such a foreign feeling. In a way, it finally made him realize waterbending was a gift from the spirits. A gift he had robbed the Northern children from fully using for more than half his life.

Not anymore. He would grant Katara her clearly earned masterhood and allow girls in his classes. It was too little, too late he knew, but it was better late than never.

He spent the remainder of the trip beneath the sea meditating. Pakku didn't bother praying as he usually would have, because he knew he wasn't worthy of their blessing. Instead, he planned how he was going to explain his decision to Chief Arnook. Of course, his carefully planned strategy was thrown to the winds when the city resurfaced on the shores of the South Pole and the Moon spirit did everything he had planned and more in all of a few minutes. 

Seeing Kanna again would have been wonderful if she hadn't been the current leader of the South since her grandchildren had been in the north. It seemed everything he tried to do to show he had seen the error of his ways, someone claimed it was his way of pleasing a woman he had loved and lost long ago. Katara earning her title was not for Kanna's benefit, nor his willingness to teach the girls, or accepting the help of the women hunters of his sister tribe, but everyone seemed to see it that way. He had actively been avoiding the woman, so why would they assume such things? Was it truly so hard to believe that coming face to face with the spirits wouldn't open his eyes? If he had wanted to impress her, he would have gone around rebuilding the South to the way it had been in the old scrolls and made himself invaluable or perhaps announce he was going to join Chief Hakoda, but he hadn't. The only person who seemed to see the truth was Spirit. 

Speaking of that child, Pakku was confused. As the Lone Wolf, Spirit was clearly a young man, but as soon as the warpaint was gone, they were obviously a female. They were engaged to Sokka and Princess Yue's confidant, yet Lord Iroh swore they were the body of his late nephew possessed by spirits. Each part of them made sense individually, but together they were utter nonsense.

He prayed for understanding from the spirits only to be laughed at by not just the setting moon and the lapping sea, but the sun above as well. It was unsettling at best. Whatever Tue, La, and Agni had planned, Pakku hoped he wasn't part of it, but the increased laughter promised otherwise. 

'(•V•)'

Arnook wasn't sure why he was being punished so for upholding traditions and promises, but here he was, stripped of his title, his promise to his wife and her best friend made impossible by the will of the sibling spirits, and his daughter unwilling to speak with him. He couldn't blame the Avatar or his party since they had gone out of their way to follow the ways of the North during their stay. The blame all seemed to fall on only him and Hahn, but why?

Hahn was a bit of a high strung boy, but he didn't deserve to have his future torn out from under his and his sanity stolen. The boy had been promised Yue's hand the very night the moon saved her life. True, they likely shouldn't have told the boy that, but it was to cheer him up after his mother's passing. Now, he was being kept in a drugged sleep to save him from visions of wolves made from the sea out of ice and salt tearing him apart. That was no life.

The whole mess made the former chief sick. He no longer had anyone or any power in a new and strange place where women ruled since the men had left. This should have been the perfect time to take the South and put it under Northern control, but the spirits made it clear that was never going to happen.

As he watched the Avatar and the future leader of the Southern Watertribe fly off, Arnook knew there was no place for him here. Maybe, if he made a name for himself as a fighter as Hakoda did, he could ingratiate himself with the people and spirits again. At this point he could only wish for a better fate than Hahn.

'(•V•)'

Since she came to the Southern Watertribe, she had always been considered to be spirit wise. She had been one of the girls who tended the spirit oasis in the North, so she understood them better than most, but Kanna knew she wasn't one of the spirit touched of the olden tales. None of that mattered when she felt the sea stirring in a was only La could.

Everyone listened when she said to move inland, away from the ice shelf, which was a good thing. They had barely retreated when a glowing iceberg large enough to swallow her village a hundred times over shot out from beneath the waves, destroying the ice she had cleared. Then the upper portion of the ice mountain flowed away revealing her old home.

If that glowing salamander crab shaped wave held someone other than her grandson, Kanna would have assumed the North was invading. Instead, she received a nod of acknowledgement from the spirit and got to listen to Tui and La punish the Northern chief as though he was a misbehaving child. That wasn't the end of it either.

Sokka was now the spirit chosen chief of the Southern Watertribe and the girl in the watergoat wave was named chieftess of the Northern Watertribe, La gave his blessings to the women of the South and retracted it from the men of the North, the spirits and the Avatar took the firebenders trapped in the city away somewhere, Pakku looked at her as though she was a ghost, Katara was a master bender even though she had only been gone a few months, the spirits returned and dropped their children off so they could go back to their circling. On top of that, there was a tangle of engagements between the white haired girl, her grandson, and the person in grey with worn off warpaint and a scar that spoke histories. But the pest part was being reunited with Yugoda.

She spent as much time as she could with her childhood friend and felt lighter than she had in decades, but she was sure not to neglect her duties and grandchildren.

Poor Katara had been keeping a massive, nearly unbelievable secret about the former Fire Nation prince that left the elder with a typhoon of mixed emotions. Sokka slept like the dead only to wake to everyone acting like he was going to reconnect with La at any moment and punish them. Then there were her honorary and possibly future grandchildren.

It seemed the girl touched by the moon was Princess Yue, daughter of the now dethroned Chief Arnook, the former leader of the Northern Watertribe. The child was clearly not used to being listened to or being allowed to have any authority, because she seemed to be floundering in her new position as Chieftess. Taking the girl under her wing was an honor and privilege that Kanna was going to cherish, especially if she was eventually going to marry Sokka.

Avatar Aang was officially engaged to Katara, but without actually becoming engaged. The boy clearly doted on her, but as a grandmother, Kanna wasn't sure that kind of love existed between the two yet. Until she was sure, the old Chieftess would keep an eye on him.

And then there was Spirit, formerly Fire Prince Zuko, with the most complicated relationship she had ever heard of. From Katara's explanation, he had pretended to be a girl, but ended up adopted by Bato and was given her necklace to keep him safe in the North. He almost drowned and got everyone but the princess and Yugoda to view him as a girl who was engaged to Sokka. According to her old friend, the boy was engaged to the princess. 

On top of that, it seemed the spirits wanted all three to be united if the signs were to be believed. It was clear they all had feelings for each other, but Kanna had a feeling that it was partially sibling love. After all, it had been the same with Hakoda, Kya, and Bato. If parallels matched, Spirit really was Bato's son.

Old memories brought tears of amusement and sadness to her eyes. She hoped the story between these three didn't play out like her children's had. In fact, she would protect the new Chieftess to be sure what happened to Kya never happened to Yue. She could only pray the boys would take care of each other out there, the young and old sets alike.

'(•V•)'

Ruu had never planned to set foot on a ship, let alone one on a suicide mission to attack the Northern Watertribe in the dead of winter during a full moon. She had survived a mission like this before and she never wanted to repeat that, but when the Admiral showed up and demanded soldiers, she didn't have a choice. She tried to desert during the cat madness, but The Dragon of the West stopped her. She tried to flee when the Savior of the 41st told them too, but she was caught in the act and put on the front lines. The idea of fighting the watertribe was scary enough, but she was sent against the Avatar and a mysterious, blackhaired waterbender.

She expected to die the first time she stepped ashore, but instead she was pushed back over and over again. After the 12th time of so, she was more scared that if she was pushed back again that her superiors would kill her to encourage the others to fight harder than she was of the Agni damned Avatar. She saw how the blackhaired bender glared deathlooks at the commanders, but their gaze softened when looking at the soldiers. 

When the defender locked eyes on the general behind the commanders and started pushing his way through, Ruu felt relieved. Of course that feeling vanished quickly, not because the understanding figure failed their mission, but because two animal shaped waves of violet/coral and cyan came crashing in from the city. Then, to her terror, the teen she was starting to view as an ally turned their back to a dozen highly trained master firebenders to face off against a pair of spirits! 

Never had she expected to survive the night, but her new Savior convinced the spirits to spare them all with the help of a giant, green glowing, spirit cat. Sure, it was terrifying to be swept up in a tidal wave, but Tui kept her word and deposited them all safely in an icy prison. Being a living prisoner was better than a dead invader, so Ruu counted her blessings.

When the mysterious bender wiped away white and grey paint to expose a familiar hand shaped scar, the firebender felt dizzy with relief. This was twice now the Savior of the 41st Division had saved her life and she was now eternally in their debt. Now she just needed to wrap her head around how a firebender could control water like that.

As it was explained to her, if was not waterbending, but bending the heat in the water. Adding it to turn ice to water and removing it to change it from liquid to solid. She watched with at least a hundred others as her two time Savior demonstrated the technique, but it was still hard to believe. But then again, they called themselves Spirit, so it could very well be Agni poking fun at his wayward children.

After that, surprises just kept coming. Treatment for the injured by Spirit themselves, ice that burned orange, purple, and blue, Admiral Zhao tied up like the madman he was, and General Iroh accusing their Savior of being the corpse of the late Prince Zuko possessed by elemental spirits. It was just one crazy thing after another. But one thing stuck with Ruu and made her think.

There was a very good chance that Prince Zuko hadn't died in the Battle of Shu Valley. The Fire Lord had sent his son into an obvious trap, so why would he want to go back to a father like that? He had almost died because he refused to stop helping stop a soldier from dying even as his own face was being melted, that kind of stubbornness was just what you would expect from a prince trying to prove himself.

So, in a way, General Iroh was right. Spirit had been Prince Zuko at one time, but he had thrown away his tiles, name, and privileges to become someone who wasn't trapped in war under the Fire Nation's thumb or outcast from the other nations as an 'Ashmaker'. Prince Zuko died and Spirit was born in his place. Oddly enough, that was as comforting as a mother's hug. 

After that, everything was madness for the next day or so, but being dropped off on a beach just outside of a Colony and told to blend in and never speak of what happened in the North was the peak of it. As insane as it sounded, they were free. It was something Ruu had never even dared to dream about.

She could follow her Savior's example and take up a new name and new purpose. They all could. This was the greatest gift they could have been given. Thank the spirits and Spirit.

'(•V•)'

Teka was ancient. She stopped counting the years after 100. She had been a master bender long before the war began and she was one of the first to be stifled and told she should leave the fighting to the men and help teach the women to heal. She couldn't bring herself to defy her chief, so she did as she was asked.

That was the beginning of the end.

She watched as the old ways died and the North slowly broke ties with the South. After that, the way of life she had known started to fade out of everyone's memories but hers. Then the war started.

The sky turned red as Agni's lover came to visit him and left with the souls of the winds. She expected her fellow warriors to ready themselves for battle, but instead, they hid away their war paint and machetes. She watched as the North eagerly awaited the new Avatar to be born amongst them, but every child showed no signs.

In their anger at the lack of a Northern Watertribe Avatar, the men banned the women from learning any bending other than healing. It as though they had forgotten that the new Avatar would be a female, as was the pattern of the cycle. Kyoshi, Roku, the young Air Nomad boy, and then a Watertribe girl.

Time passed and Teka waited, like an iceberg on the side of a cliff, waiting for the right moment to crash down and make a wave that could not be ignored. Then the Avatar arrived, not as an infant of the North, but as a 12-year-old Airbender. It was poetic.

She watched as Agni's child ran amuck in the city causing small waves that quickly grew and churned the waters in ways her old eyes hadn't seen since childhood. He managed to get the attention of Tui and La and let them see what had become of their children. The tides quickly changed their flow.

She now stood on the shores of her sister tribe and saw how small it had become, yet all the power rested in women's hands. It was the opposite of the North in just about every way. This was exactly what she had been waiting on, but now was her time not to cause waves, but to reveal forgotten history and allow her waters to join and unite two halves of a greater whole.

Maybe she would be the first Northern to join the waters of the South as she gave herself back to La, but for now, she had a moon child to teach.

'(•V•)'

Lya was not sure what to think. 

She had been a young girl when the Last Southern waterbender had been born and she had watched the girl and her brother grow up. Never had she considered the idea Sokka could possibly be a waterbender too, but then the Avatar returned, both children left, and then returned with the entire Northern Watertribe. Now, Katara had mastered water in less than five moons and Sokka was blessed by La himself.

Was it possible that there were more, less powerful, benders in the South, but without masters to train them, they never knew? Was it possible? Oh spirits, what had they done?

'(•V•)'

Zhao's mind was so broken that he did not know that he had failed in his plan until hours after the spirits had joined the fight and they were deep beneath the waves. It took the spirit Miyuki in her human form, dressed as a waterbender and General Iroh to bring him somewhat back to his senses. And to his fury, he was trussed up like a pigchicken ready to roast.

He lunged at her, hoping to strangle the feline before it realized he was awake only to be easily dodged. The Admiral let his ire be known as loudly as he could, then the thrice damned cat tapped his nose and his whole body froze in confusion as she smirked as though she had stolen the cream. It was infuriating.

Then the cat had the gaul to have his soldiers tell wives' tales about who and what she was. On top of that, all his troops acted as though he wasn't their leader and refused to untie him and ignored his orders. As soon as he was free, they would all pay!

They thought him mad, but that was the Dragon of the West. The senile old man thought Miyuki was where the Avatar had placed several minor spirits into the corpse of the three years dead, failure of a prince, Zuko. Of the two of them, the elderly prince was clearly the insane one.

He must have fallen asleep at some point because when he woke, he was alone, tied to a bed on his back, naked under a thin sheet that barely kept out the cold. His face and head itched. Opening his eyes, he saw he was in a glass building, covered in snow, holding a large tree.

A glance around let him see he was laying between a woman in Fire Nation red and a man in Earth Kingdom green. Then an old woman in familiar white and green herbalist robes approached with a tray of ice, stones, and acupuncture needles. A fear settled in him and he tried to move or speak, but it was as if his body was frozen.

As the old woman poked and rubbed his cool, boney fingers across his body, his body would react on its own. Sometimes it was a shiver, the flinches were alarming, but some points had him arching in pure agony. The two observers made no move to stop the woman and would hold him down if his flinches or writhing lasted more than a second. This went on for an eternity and exposed parts of his body the hag had no right to touch and at one point he was untied flipped onto his stomach gently so she could violate him backside as well.

When he thought it couldn't get worse, she started to "treat" him. Ice pressed into his warmest parts, burning stone pressed into his flesh, and needles shoved into the most painful spots of his body. It was true torture, yet the filthy earth salvage had the nerve to mutter sounds meant to be soothing and comforting.

When it finally ended, he heard something that made his blood run cold. They had no idea who he was and this was the first of many treatments. That meant his torture was only just starting.

'(•V•)'

She let the old tomcat wander too long, Miyuki decided when her perch woke up. It was time she went and checked on him. She knew where he would be, so she went to meet her kitten's new teacher. She could smell her kitten on all three people in the building, so these were all part of her kitten's new litter.

As the old Molly tended to the white kitten, Miyuki watched the other kitten in disgust. The silly water kitten was going to hurt herself trying to heal herself like that! Did the mewling not know how to use water? Yelling at her to stop just led to tears.

She liked her kitten's teacher as the old Molly tutted at the mewling and helped it out. The other kitten was Tui's kitten. Pity the moon wasn't as willing to share as her brother, so Miyuki couldn't claim the white one.

It wasn't long before the Tomcat was brought to her. Of course, all her hard work was once again undone when he arrived at the healing hut with her kitten. She knew whose fault that was and her kitten had the decency to look ashamed. She knew her kitten couldn't help what happened, but she was still irritated.

Her irritation only worsened when the mewling tried to heal the head wound without feeling around the injury or the chi lines. Was this what the mewling was taught to do, was the mewling still hurt and not thinking clearly, or was it just the mewling wasn't following what was taught? Either way, Miyuki did not hesitate to send her outside.

She immediately went back to work on the old Tomcat. Seeing her kitten knotted the chi worse than ever, but in different places now. Well, she needed to deal with this now before the Tomcat had himself ill. It was slow work, but she had him sleeping deeply to let his body recover in the nice room the old Molly had created for them.

She had been napping when she felt La and Tui stop their circling. Those two hadn't stopped in centuries, so either one of them was dead or had almost been killed. It was time to find her kitten before something bad happened.

She arrived just in time. Tui was more forgiving than La, but the tickflea had gone too far and now her kitten was protecting the whole clowder. She may have offered to fight them both if they dared harm her kitten and Agni's clowder, but it didn't come to that. Miyuki was a little more than indignant that the moon insisted that she was going to claim them, not kill them, but her kitten was hers and Agni wasn't here to hold his claim on them, so she yelled and was ridiculously protective. 

La offered a compromise that they isolate the people and talk to Agni later. Tui pouted, but agreed. More than pleased with the idea, she returned to her preferred form, leapt into her kitten's arm, and nodded her agreement. Moments later, she, her kitten, and all the kittens in red and black in an area away from the kittens in blue.

The amount of hurt around Miyuki reminged the spirit of why she had taken mortal form in early days before the Avatar separated the two worlds and became the bridge linking them. She may have gone a bit overboard healing them all, but this was a kind of fun she had relished in in centuries. The hundred years war hadn't left very many injured, just mass death, which may be fine with Koh, but Miyuki had missed playing with all the wounds.

Her kitten assisted her, but mostly the kitten organized beds, fire, and food. She knew the tickflea and the kitten were near each other, but healing took precedence until the Tomcat woke. The interaction that followed had her purring in pride. Her kitten had learned so much from her.

After story time, she forced the old Tomcat to rest and tried to clear his system, but he was too dehydrated. Knowing she wouldn't be able to get someone other than her kitten to listen to her, she made the tomcat sleep to limit his damage to himself while she tended to her kitten. After all, the old Tomcat wasn't the only one affected by the meetings and tales.

As soon as snores started, she moved to the room where the mewling and her kitten were bedded down. The knots she found were loose, but there were tears she had to clean away. As her kitten once again told her everything, she purred soothingly as she plotted her next hunt.

La agreed to let her have the tickflea, so she could have fun playing with her food as long as she wanted, so she had time to scout. Her kitten had a littermate that was still with their sire. Without the Tomcat, her kitten's littermate could end up hurt like her kitten. It was time Miyuki reminded the Fire King why she was a wanted criminal.

She was gone with the tickflea before the city ended its journey. She may have encouraged the flealice to join them on their journey, but only because it would be fun to see the tickflea itch. If the tickflea was allergic, how was she to know? The paralysis would be only fitting since she was going to leave her poor elderly disciple alone with the madman.

She made a promise to her kitten the day they met and now was the perfect time to deal with the soon to be gib. Three years were nothing to an ageless spirit, but it was an eternity to a kitten, so she best do it now lest she set it aside for a few decades. Besides, it would be more fun this way.

'(•V•)'

Spirit felt like his entire childhood was a lie. As a child he had been certain of several things: His mother would always be there for him, Azula always lies, his father would love him as soon as he earned that love, Lu Ten was the funniest person ever, and Uncle was the best at everything. Well, his mother had disappeared, Azula had been right that his father had wanted him dead, his father hated him and a real father didn't require a reason to love their child, he had met several people funnier than his late cousin since he became Spirit, and Uncle was terrible at sneaking, kidnapping, and paying attention to his surroundings.

In a way, it made doing what he had to do easier if he thought about everything he knew being false. His uncle wasn't a wise master of all, just a man in pain lashing out at those trying to help. This was something he knew very well after assisting the Herbalist the last few years. Stand your ground, keep your hands in sight, remain calm and quiet, and distract them.

He wasn't sure why he thought Sokka would have been quicker arriving with Appa, since he knew from experience how hard it was to guide two uncoordinated people by oneself, but he was relieved when his friend finally flew into sight. He wished boomerangs didn't leave head injuries, but it was the fastest way to get Uncle out of the way so he could check on Aang. As he warmed the airbender like Yugoda had been instructing him to with his bending, he prayed to Agni and Miyuki that the damage to Uncle's head wouldn't change him like similar injuries often did.

He wanted to hug La's chosen when the warrior settled Uncle's tied form in easy reach so Spirit could check the head wound without stopping the warming he was working on with Aang. Sokka was often callous and unaffected by the pain of others, as a child of the ocean often was, but moments like this showed he cared about those close to him. It was one of the reasons Spirit considered the Southern bender his best friend.

That warm feeling of affection only increased when he was greeted by both Katara and Yue. He put his charge in the bed and blushed at the glare his mentor was sending his way, warm feeling morphing into a hidden blush. He should have seen this coming.

She had been with Uncle on the ship, so he was obviously one of Miyuki's patients. He had just spent a good bit of time teasing the man, making him believe he was fighting a waterbender, and the reason he now had a nasty blow to the head. Spirit was half expecting a hiss, but only received a put upon huff.

He stared sadly at the man he grew up idolizing, then looked pleadingly at the only person who knew who Uncle was to him. When she sighed softly and nodded, he watched closely. He could almost feel the moment Katara did something wrong because the cat's fur stood rigid and there was a displeased flicking of a tale.

Not wanting to see how his mentor dealt with his fellow healer-in-training, he slipped outside to unsaddle Appa and returned to a smug Miyuki and a missing Katara. There only seemed to be a heartbeat between realizing his friend was out near the fighting alone and being crushed in a hug by Aang. Healer Yugoda looked like she wanted to ask something, but the airbender was speaking too fast to be interrupted.

The Avatar managed to fill him with guilt and regret only to completely distract him with duty to limit causalities. With Aang beside him and his face hidden behind grey and white paint, he allowed himself to have fun. The airbender was good inspiration for moves that might look like air and waterbending and he knew enough earth and fire katas that he could play with styles.

After a few hours, the fun faded and frustration grew. These soldiers clearly didn't want to fight, but there was a threat of death in the air if they didn't keep going. That was an unforgivable act on the part of those commanders.

Was that how the fighters at the siege of Ba Sing Se felt? Had Uncle and Lu Ten made their soldiers fight under threat of harm or even death from their own leaders? If so, Spirit wasn't sure he could look back fondly at either one of them.

It took some time to come up with a plan to stop the clear mistreatment of troops, but it came apart at the seams as soon as he tried to enact it. He had almost gotten to the cowardly officers in the rear ranks when Tui and La arrived. Without hesitation, he stood his ground between the spirits he served and the people he needed to protect.

Seeing that it was Yue and Sokka that gave the Moon and Ocean these new forms should have been a comfort, but all Spirit could think about was those two having nightmares about killing him. Given how Tui had fury rolling off her form like heat from lava, he felt his fear was justified, but he didn't let it stop him from protecting his fellow fire children. Mentally, he pictured his crazy little sister, stood his ground, and tried to talk his way out of dying.

It seemed to be working, but he was still relieved when his mentor separated him from the moon's gaze and grew larger than Appa. Spirit never claimed to be able to hear the voices of the spirits like some, but he always understood what Miyuki meant and right now, she was angry, indignant, possessive, and worried. That last one was the end of the feeling he was protected.

If his mentor was concerned, so was he. Miyuki was a lesser spirit while these two were great spirits. In a fight, she would lose and so would all the cowering figures behind him. 

Thankfully, La pulled a Sokka and seemed to be a voice of reason and both backed down. Next thing he knew, the healing spirit was a small cat again and about to leap into his arms that he positioned on instinct. Then, they were washed away. 

They were deposited far from the beach they had been on and the spirits raised a transparent, but thick ice wall isolating the fire troops from the city they had been trying to conquer. This was the best outcome Spirit could have hoped for given the situation. He started planning medical areas as the rest of the city became encased in ice he knew no bender could so much as scratch.

At first the men and women were understandably fearful of him in his Watertribe clothing and wolf war paint, but they all sighed in relief when he scrubbed away most of the dark pigment from his scar, revealing who he was. The injured were categorized and sorted quickly while he lit some of the fireice he nearby. Things went well, him and Miyuki healing while others tended fires, set up guard rotations, and assisted with the less injured.

An example of such was Uncle. The man arrived fast asleep. He looked exhausted and older than he really was. Spirit never got near him, since he knew Yugoda had already treated him, but the helpers seemed to think his sudden aging was a sign of injury, so he was put with the moderately hurt group instead of the barely harmed one.

While he avoided Uncle, he couldn't do the same for Zhao. The Admiral had nearly drowned, but the man didn't seem to know it. They had been treating him for a while before he finally seemed to be present in his mind again. Spirit was thankful his assistant had insisted on tying the catatonic man up, because he woke as Uncle approached and went for the throat.

Dodging had been instinct and those same instincts wanted him to retaliate as the madman yowled in indignation and frustration. Burying those thoughts, he asked himself what his mentor would do at a moment like this. A memory came to mind and it had him chuckling in his head.

Just as he had seen done hundreds of times in the past, he reached out and bopped the yelling man on the tip of his nose. The sudden silence was beautiful and made the healer feel proudly accomplished. He hoped Miyuki saw he had mastered one of her techniques.

Knowing the silence wouldn't last, given Uncle was a persistent person who thought he was a spirit of a dead person controlled by the Avatar, so he broke it first. He called on one of the familiar faces and asked her if she knew of him. Her affronted look was a work of art and so was the look she gave him when he asked her to tell Uncle and Zhao who she knew him to be.

It was painful to hear her side of the story. He usually just accepted that it had happened and didn't relive those memories, but he couldn't help it this time. He was falling apart and wanted nothing more than for Uncle to realize he never died so he could be held together by a warm hug, but that couldn't and wouldn't happen.

When she finished, he nodded his thanks and she returned to her duty. That started a chain of stories from those that knew him from various encounters. He wanted to thank them all for caring about him and what had happened to him, but he couldn't waste this chance to make his escape.

Getting over the wall was hard, but given he was drained emotionally and physically, it was harder than it should have been. He wanted sleep, but he still needed to check on Aang and Katara. If he didn't, he'd never get any sleep.

He searched half the city before checking by Appa and he blamed his exhaustion for him not thinking to check there first. His friend was sleeping happily in the bison's thick, warm fur and Spirit was sorely tempted to join him. With one found safe, he went in search of his only true confidant.

He checked with Master Yugoda first, but he found a worn out teacher, but no Katara. Spirit Oasis and training areas showed no sign of her, same with the house. He was on his way to see if she was keeping an eye on the firebenders when he saw her asleep in her nemesis' arms.

He tailed them until he realized Pakku was taking her to the house. He got there first and met the pompous master bender at the door. He could see the usually glacial features of the man's face were almost soft as the elder bender tucked the younger one under the covers. Spirit couldn't help but think about how it was almost exactly what he had wanted Uncle to do for him.

The softness was gone when Pakku turned to him. He was dead on his feet, so he wasn't overly comfortable with the appraising gaze looking him over. The man started to open his mouth, likely to ask hard questions when a massive yawn tried to escape Spirit. He must have failed to hide it because some of that softness was back as the waterbender pointed to the empty bed in a commanding way.

Other than nodding, Spirit didn't remember what happened from then until he was woken by the ascension of the city to the sea's surface. When he climbed from the bed, he saw fur that was clearly from Miyuki, but that did really tell him anything, but the crunchiness at the corners of his eyes when he wiped them when he got to the doorway told a story all their own. He had cried to his mentor and fallen asleep. Good to know.

They were rising terrifyingly fast when he locked eyes with Katara for a moment and they started moving. Breaking surface was jolting and it nearly knocked him off his feet. If it was this bad for him, he was worried about his patients.

He raced to the still intact wall of glassy ice, scaled it quicker than he would have thought possible before. None of the wounded seemed to have been hurt worse by the jolt to the surface, so he allowed himself a moment to relax before climbing the wall at a slower pace and moving a little closer to where the Moon and Ocean were speaking to the watertribes.

His arrival should have been unnoticed, but Tui and La greeted him with the title of nephew before returning to their beratement of the North. Since he hadn't been ignored, the fire troops were from treating him with admiration to reverence. It was weird.

Kowtows replaced respectful nods, no one was really meeting his eyes, words of thanks turned to whispered prayers. This is what he got for returning to the enclosure. At least Uncle and Zhao weren't treating him like he was the Fire Lord, but calling him a spirit filled corpse wasn't really any better.

It was relief when the smaller icy bubble took them all away. He trusted Aang to make sure Tui or La didn't hurt his people, so he stopped worrying about them as he moved to find his teacher. He should have known he was trading one stress for another.

Katara's Gran Gran was there and had just walked in on a reunion, so he backed out quickly and moved to a high point to get a good look at the South Pole. It wasn't a city, a town was still too large a description, but it seemed wrong to call the entire Southern Watertribe a small village. How in Agni's name had it gotten this bad?

It was no wonder Tui and La were so upset. He would be murderous if he left his herb garden in someone's care only to return to find it over harvested and overgrown with weeds, let alone someone leaving most of your children to be slaughtered. The Northern tribe was lucky that spirits rarely view humans as children and more like amusing pets.

He wondered around staying out of peoples' way until he felt the Moon and Ocean returning. Making a guess, he ran to the pool those two had been circling in for thousands of years. He arrived shortly before the figures of glowing water that now reminded him of sunrise and sunset with their colors.

He didn't realize just how tightly he had been wound until both his friends were safely in his arms and the tension oozed out of him. He didn't care that he was being watched as he hugged them close. He eventually had to let someone help move them somewhere to rest, but he didn't break physical contact with them until he had too.

After that things were very awkward before and after the new Chief and Chieftess woke up. He was lucky to spend much of the time learning from Master Yugoda, because his gold eyes had the Southerners uncomfortable and the Northerners weren't sure where he sat with them now that it was clear Sokka and Yue were meant to be together, but he was engaged to both of them.

As much as he loved learning healing from an actual healer, and not a looney herbalist, and helping rebuilding, he wanted to get away from the looks and whispers. Sokka was sure he would like Kioshi Island and swore he had a kindred spirit waiting there, so he had something to look forward to. He just had to focus on his lessons and hope the others could pry themselves away from their friends and family before he went crazy.

Sokka and Yue were uncomfortable with their new positions, but only Sokka was going to be able to escape for a while, as the poor princess turned Chieftess was going to be stuck with it here in the South. Aang was off playing with his waterbending classmates most of the time or pestering Sokka to go with them. Katara was rebuilding the South Pole's buildings singlehandedly and mostly neglecting her healing classes.

This went on for a while, but eventually, they finally were moving out to find an earthbending master for the Avatar. Aang was convinced that the teacher was going to be his old friend Bumi, but it didn't really feel right to Spirit. There were tears at the goodbyes, he only let Healer Yugoda see his though, while siblings were a bit more open about it.

Sadness hidden, the former prince looked to the future with the only known sky bison, a thought extinct lemur bat, the Last Southern Waterbender, the Host of La, and the Avatar. This was just the first leg of their journey and at the end was his past waiting to haunt him. Until then, he was going to do his duty and fulfill his chosen name.


End file.
